


ClockworkTown Mishap

by Kaiha, TheMysticOfFanfiction



Category: dreams - Fandom
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-13
Updated: 2013-04-13
Packaged: 2017-12-08 09:31:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,600
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/759839
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kaiha/pseuds/Kaiha, https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheMysticOfFanfiction/pseuds/TheMysticOfFanfiction
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In a abandoned clockwork town covered by snow and filled with dragon hatchlings, a lone girl wanders.</p>
            </blockquote>





	ClockworkTown Mishap

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TheMysticOfFanfiction](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheMysticOfFanfiction/gifts).



Thick clumps of snowflakes swayed down like thousands of falling leaves onto a clicking, ticking, clockwork city. Gigantic gears churned together on the tall buildings, and clock hands jerked steadily on the many time turners covering the town. The sky was a cloudy white, matching the few areas of the ground of where gears or clock hands didn't turn, just like the hair of a little girl sitting alone holding a shimmering egg on some frozen stairs. The little girl, who called herself Nudge, wore a white, lace dress, had pale skin, and bandages were wrapped around her feet and some red areas on her arms. Nudge rested her chin on the pleasantly warm egg, closing her pale blue eyes. As she drifted to sleep the egg began glowing from the inside, like light filtered through water ripples on the sea floor. Cracks scattered through it, and the sudden fragility of the egg made the girl jerk her head up in surprise. Nudge was more curious than scared, and quite unwilling to leave the only source of warmth nearby. She squeaked as more cracks were sent through the egg, and a talon managed the break through. There were so many cracks that the egg decided to just collapse in, increasing the struggling of the thing it contained. Peeling away the eggshell with her fingers and getting egg-juice all over her dress, Nudge found a disoriented white dragon. She dropped the eggshell in shock, which the dragon immediately started munching on. As she slowly began to realize the dragon wasn't going to attack her her eyes sparkled at the new discovery. She tried brushing the ooze off the soft scales but only spread it everywhere and got her hands all sticky. The hatchling blinked it's blurred green-slit eyes back at her as it discovered sight for the first time, swallowed the rest of it's eggshell, and then let out a high-pitched 'PEEP!'  
"Um." The girl smiled shyly, "It's nice to meet you too!"

A young boy woke up inside his tent, wrapped up in about three blankets. The bright white sky sent cloudlight through his green cloth tent, but did nothing to stop the chill of the air. The blankets were really warm. The boy, Learuchi, did not want to unwrap himself at all. In fact, going back to sleep sounded like a more comfortable option. But he was hungry. Forcing his hands to let go of the ends of the blankets he had clutched in his sleep, Learuchi very carefully unwrapped himself so his blades would not slice the blankets apart. Sitting up, the boy would have looked very strange to a normal person. His clothes included brown monk-like robes with purple stitching, a shade lighter than his dark purple eyes. His hair was of tufts of different length and multicoloured brown, black, blonde, red and orange; a hairstylist's nightmare. He wore something like a strange necklace made of nearly-invisible thread carrying quarter-sized lime green beads floating around his neck. The strangest part of him was the bedraggled set of wings on his back which looked like bird wings with more than half of it's feathers plucked out, but instead of feathers, there were straight white blades.

"Kraaaad?" Learuchi called, leaning forward and crawling through the tent's folds, peeking his head out and squinting at the bright cloudlight, "Do you have any food...?"

There was no answer. Learuchi wiggled out of his tent and stood up, dragging some blankets up with him to defend against the snowy breeze. He quickly tied them into a cape around his neck and trotted over to his brother's tent, peeking through the flaps to see no one there. Instead of his brother's sleeping form, he found a rolled up sleeping blanket and a folded note. Learuchi's hand reached out of the warm blankets and picked up the note and unfolded it:

I can't stay here anymore. I'm going to the nearest town. There's no need to worry, I won't hurt anyone. -Krad

"Of course you will, you idiot!" Learuchi whispered intensely to himself, "You're so selfish, brother!"

He slowly stood up out of the tent and looked to the skyline. He saw some towers in the distance. He had to find Krad, fast!

Nudge had found some more friends! The majority of them were more hatchlings, who came out of hiding once they spotted the small white one perched on her shoulder. Another one was a boy who was named Joshua. He was a little older and much taller, and had purple hair and eyes and wore red spider headphones. The dragons didn't seem to mind him either, and so they chased them through the town in a game of tag. Weaving through the buildings, rubble, and random gears lying about, they both came across the entrance to the clockwork city. Joshua was distracted with chasing a herd of hatchlings around, whom could gallop as fast as a rabbit. He had no luck catching any of them. Nudge decided to hide outside the wall but when she tried to exit the city, she ended up running back into the city. Confused, she turned around back to the entrance and approached it carefully. She ended up facing towards the city, so she switched gears and walked backwards, only to find herself being pushed back in. The harder she pushed against the invisible boundary, the more slippery to floor got, so she ended up falling on her butt.

"Owww..." She whined unhappily

"Are you okay?" Joshua questioned.

"Um..." Nudge mumbled. What did this mean? Could she not get out of the city? "I'm okay."

She stood up and brushed herself off. Her stomach growled from all the exercise. She was getting pretty thirsty, too.

"Joshua? Do you have anything to eat?" She asked.

"I can make whatever you want. Do you know where the food is?"

Nudge shook her head.

"Well... that's a problem..."

A tan man with white wings and white hair gazed with dull black eyes down at the city below him. He didn't look too happy with the fact that he could see nothing down there but clockwork and snow. He flapped his large wings and rose higher into the sky, past the roof of one of the taller buildings, to find two ant-sized human figures walking down together below. He focused on them to see smaller specks of dragon hatchlings. He flapped his wings as vigorously as a bird does when it takes a running takeoff, and took a speeding dive after them.  
Nudge squeaked as a tall man with white wings landed hard a few yards in front of them, sending crack along the ice at his feet and a flurry of snow around by his wind, skidding on the ice a few more feet before stopping to look at them. She watched him with awe, but on the other hand the dragon hatchlings began hissing and backing away from the man. Joshua quietly said, "Get behind me, Nudge."

She obeyed slowly as Joshua asked, "Who are you?"

The man gingerly folded his wings and walked closer to them, speaking as he did so, "My name is of no importance. Please... I need some of your life energy."

"Why?" Joshua questioned, backing himself and Nudge away from the man. This man's eyes were so dull, they weren't reflecting any light.

"I'm going to die if I don't. Don't worry, it won't hurt! You'll just feel tired afterwards!" The man began to shake at the knowledge that his prey was so close.

"...Fine." Joshua approached the man, pushing Nudge gently towards the crowd of dragonlings who had crowded together for protection. The man reached out and put his hands on Joshua's forehead. Immediately his hair and his wings started darkening. As promised, Joshua did not feel any pain. They stood in silence for almost a minute, the man's hair and feathers had turned a dark gray,

"KRAAAAAAAAAAAAD!" A voice screamed, and a brown and white blur tackled the man off Joshua and onto the ground. Joshua stumbled back and collapsed onto his behind. Nudge put her hands over her mouth.

"What do YOU THINK YOU WERE DOING?!" Learuchi yelled down at the man, Krad, he had pinned to the ground.

"...Eating." Krad looked away from Learuchi sheepishly.

"Krad, I have plenty of immortality curses." Learuchi patiently tried to keep from smacking his brother across the face, "You could have fed from me."

Krad looked at him, scowling. "That energy doesn't taste right."

"So you decide to feed from this human? Because of your taste buds?! You could have killed him, you idiot!" Learuchi growled, his blade feathers puffing out in agitation.

"Wait... what?!" Joshua's eyes widened.

"Oh... yeah. Sorry." Krad breathed, looking away again. Learuchi put his own hand on Krad's forehead and forced energy into him. Krad cringed as his hair and feathers turned a dark black. Learuchi got off him, stood up, and lowered his head to Joshua.

"I'm sorry for the trouble we caused." Learuchi sighed.

"...That could have killed me...?" Joshua spoke, still in a bit of shock. He quickly snapped out of it and glared at Krad. Krad stood up and brushed himself off, not making eye contact. He outspread his wings and flapped powerfully back into the sky, sending flurries of loose snow in a cloud at everyone. The dragon hatchlings sneezed out puffs of smoke. Learuchi was about to follow him, but when he sent one last look at Nudge he seemed to notice something. As if in a trance, he walked around in a slow circle, looking up and down at the city.

"This city is cursed, isn't it?" He said this as more of a fact than a question. Nudge gasped as she realized that made sense. Maybe that's why she couldn't get out!

"What? How do you know?" Joshua questioned suspiciously, looking back from Nudge to Learuchi. He felt left out of the loop.

"I'm a curse eater!" Learuchi announced proudly, "I can take away any magical curses that may people have!"

Joshua looked at him doubtfully while Nudge squealed, "Really?!"

"I would prove it to you... but I don't think you trust me." Learuchi's shoulders and wings sagged down a bit.

"Do you have any food?" Nudge asked randomly.

"Yeah! It's in my po-" Learuchi checked the deepest pockets in his robe, and patted down and smoothed down the others quickly to find nothing but a compass and some money. "Oh. I was certain I had some..." He frowned and put the items back into his pockets.

"But... I'm hungry..." Nudge mumbled. The three of them remained silent, unsure of what to do.

"We're not eating the dragons!" Nudge declared defiantly as the two boys looked towards the group of hatchlings. The hatchlings were still crowded together around Nudge, watching Learuchi intently.

"Well, what other food is there?" Joshua asked unhappily.

"Maybe this town has a food disappearing curse. Maybe that's why nobody lives here." Learuchi said, "If I remove the curse, then maybe the previous food that people brought in here will appear again?"

"...Worth a try." Joshua shrugged. Nudge agreed. Learuchi nodded and then sat down, spreading out his wings carefully.

"I'm gonna have to concentrate, so be please be quiet okay?"

Nudge nodded with a serious look on her face while Joshua shrugged. They watched as Learuchi leaned back and looked at the sky, the beads floating around his neck glowing a green light. The dragon's peepings became quiet. A very long gold ribbon floated out from under Learuchi's wing like a charmed snake, and then broke in half, falling onto his wings and setting them on fire. Learuchi stood up, unbothered by the heat and in a trance. He backed away from the others and spread his wings out, the fire covering the gaps in his wings. He ran a few steps and flapped into the sky, sending a hot wind back towards the others.  
Nudge, Joshua and the dragon hatchlings looked up as Learuchi landed on one of the tallest towers in the city. Learuchi flung his hand into the air and focused on it. The air began to distort around him like a heat wave, and spread until the sky was flickering and shivering as well. The dragon hatchlings chirped wildly as the air began distorting everyone's forms as well. Joshua and Nudge felt like the air was full of electricity and their hair began standing on end. For a few seconds, the chirps became distorted, like they were underwater. The distortion started fading again, concentrating into Learuchi's hand and becoming a ribbon. Glowing brilliantly with magic, Learuchi grasped the ribbon, brought it to his mouth, and slurped it up like it was a spaghetti noodle. He stood there, shining more brilliantly than the snow for a few seconds before the glow faded away and he fell onto his hands and knees. Krad appeared from behind a building, floating in the air as food began raining down from the sky. Nudge, Joshua and the hatchlings took cover under some giant gears as the food splattered everywhere.

"Wowww!" Nudge giggled, poking her head out and sticking out her tongue. As if on cue, a cream pie flew into her face. Joshua pulled her back under cover, but couldn't help laughing. Nudge blinked and wiped some cream away from her eyes. She licked her messy hands and laughed too.

"Are you okay?" Krad asked Learuchi in a cool voice, but his extremely worried expression he was trying to hide gave him away.

"Yeah." A drumstick hit Learuchi on the head, only to be consumed by his wing fire. He sat back with a sigh.

"We should get going." Krad stepped back, dodging a pile of mashed potatoes.

"But what about those two?" Learuchi looked to Joshua and Nudge.

"They'll be fi-" Krad was muffled as a cake fell onto his head. Learuchi's wings went out, the golden ribbon untouched. It sleepily slinked back into his blade-feathers as he pointed and laughed. Krad sighed and carefully picked up Learuchi, jumping off the building and flying away, dodging food, out of the town. They landed and Krad walked back into the forest, Leraruchi sending one last look back at the town before following him.

Joshua and Nudge walked on out cautiously once the rain began to become less heavy. Nudge and the dragons immediately gorged themselves on food that had fallen into the snow.

"Wait! Don't eat food off the floor!" Joshua protested, but they all ignored him. Joshua sighed and waited for them.

"Let's go on a adventure!" Nudge announced, "This town's too cold! And there's nobody here! So let's go out and meet other people!"

She was scared she might be locked in here again, too. Joshua smiled and said, "Okay. Have fun, Nudge. I'm going to leave, too."

He walked away sadly.

"Wait! Can I come with you?" Nudge ran up next to Joshua, her dragonlings close behind.

"My journey is dangerous..." Joshua looked at the ground.

"My dragons will protect me! Right, guys?!" Nudge proudly declared. The dragons chirped and peeped in agreement. Joshua looked and them and was quiet. Nudge look was kitten-eyes pleading, and so were the couple of dragonlings on her shoulders. He then smiled and shrugged.

"I guess you can come." How could anyone so no to faces like that? Maybe for a little while... Nudge cheered and the dragons galloped and fluttered around them in happiness. The group then exited safely out of the city, and onto a new adventure.


End file.
